A Review from the Senior Tigers Committee
It has been a busy year for the committee with many activities arranged for the enjoyment of our members.
There were a few personnel changes on the committee during the year. Both Dave Jackson (Chair) and John MacKay (Co-opted committee member) stepped down and Allen Bagshawe and Shirley Cormack were appointed Chair and Secretary respectively. Barbara Wilkinson continued as Treasurer.
The other members of the committee, Pat Ellis, Ernie Addy, Tony Conway and Rob Wilson all contributed to providing a busy schedule of social activities for our members.
Barbara, as well as the Treasurer, has been the lead organiser for the majority of the social activities which include the Members’ Monthly Meetings and Luncheons and the many Acklams coach outings and local visits throughout the season. Barbara has also restarted a swimming group by encouraging our members to join in with the Haltemprice Dolphins at the Haltemprice Leisure Centre.
Pat has also organised local outings, especially to the impressive Trinity House building. Table tennis is thriving thanks to Pat’s encouragement. Pat’s vote of thanks to our guests is also a welcomed feature of our monthly meetings.
Ernie has been very active in the walking football activity with friendly games being arranged in addition to the twice-weekly sessions at the Tiger Trust Arena. Ernie has also arranged for a Senior Tigers coach for Hull City away games and additionally arranged for the seating at the grounds to avoid spectators standing up in front of our members.
Tony continues to lead the Memorabilia activities. His Memorabilia Subgroup has built up hundreds more items on the Website Memorabilia Gallery and he is now in the preparation stage for another Memorabilia Day at the MKM Stadium in June 2024 to coincide with the Club’s 120th anniversary.
Rob continues to support the website and the growing Memorabilia Gallery. Rob also negotiated with the Club the use of a new portable, multi microphone system for our meetings. Rob developed a new attendance register that has been ably managed by Shirley.
All the work of the committee is underpinned by the extremely good relationships with the Club through Barbara. Rob nurtures the relationships with our external sponsor KCOM and the great supporters of our organisation, Tigers Trust and Jupiter Web Solutions. Ernie maintains contact with Acklams.
The main event every month is our Members’ Meeting and Luncheons. Barbara leads the committee on these occasions but they would not go as smoothly if it wasn’t for the significant help from our team of helpers. From Richard Beachell who does a magnificent job interviewing our guests, Alice Wright and Teresa Groom for managing the teas and coffees, Pete Wilson for the raffle prizes and the team of Ken Franks, Helen Carter and Jean Skinner for the raffle ticket selling, Pat Betts for the player of the month voting and Dave Cormack for his meet and greet role before the meeting.
Our report cannot be complete without a mention of our Newsletter and the continuous top quality editions from our Editor Allen with major contributions from Tony.
An enormous thanks goes to all of the above from the committee.
Also, thank you to all our members for supporting the committee and attending the activities throughout the season
A Personal Review from the Chair, Allen Bagshawe.
The year, looking back has been fantastic. Our speakers at the monthly meetings started with Matt Ingram following on from our AGM in August. Sam Barlow from Fit Mums & Friends gave us an emotional talk in September and in October we welcomed our 2021-22 Player of the Season, Jacob Greaves. Then came Tommy ‘Boom Boom’ Coyle, that was a memorable afternoon! The turn of the year brought David Myler to us, and an opportunity for him to plug his recently published biography!
The whole season was under the excitement of our new Turkish owners and although we await a visit from Acun Illicali we were thrilled to have his righthand man, Tan Kesler for our February meeting. We had hopes of welcoming Greg Docherty also but a late withdrawal meant we had to find someone to fill the gap. Step forward Pete Smurthwaite who duly entertained us! In March, you will recall, we had a generous offer from the club for full-day access to the Kingston Suite. We welcomed an enthusiastic crowd of members for morning coffee with time to get to know other members and a number of things to do. I’m sure everyone remembers Rob Milner losing his hair, all for a good cause! After a splendid luncheon, we were delighted to welcome Nick Barmby, such a joy to have him with us. The next month gave us the opportunity to welcome another of our special ‘legends’ with Dean Windass joining us. Our final speaker for the season was at the May Luncheon and what a joy to have Andy Dawson present – that was three ‘legends’ in successive gatherings!
I would like to add appreciation to Pat Ellis who has taken on the duty of giving a Vote of Appreciation to our speakers at every meeting. This is greatly appreciated.
Barbara has been superb throughout the year, organising some tremendous outings. Whitby, Shibden Hall (Halifax), Drax Power Station, our local Museums along with Hull Minster, the Bomber Command Memorial in Lincoln, a fabulous trip to the Land Rover production line in Coventry, Eden Camp and finally to Salford Quays and a wonderful cruise on the Manchester Ship Canal. Add to that the trip to Bridlington and the warm welcome offered by Pete Smurthwaite at Bridlington Town AFC. Great to see the ground improvements there under his watch. What a fantastic series of visits. Our grateful thanks to Babs.
During the year many members appreciate the opportunity to take part in health activities. We started with Walking Football (Ernie), then added swimming (Barbara) and Table Tennis (Pat). These activities don’t just happen, they have to be organised, so many thanks to those who put the graft in.
Thanks, must also be recorded to Tony Conway for his incredible articles in the Newsletter. His contributions have been fantastic. These articles are now part of our heritage documents. The whole Heritage & Memorabilia issue is so important and the work taken on by Tony and his team of volunteers is so valuable. Hopefully, it will one day be part of a permanent H&M Museum in the city. The key here is Rob Wilson, as he takes on the massive task of coordinating and preparing all records and documents for our website. This and so many other tasks. Nobody does more than he does for the Senior Tigers and yet, to my shame, I initially overlooked his contribution when this report was given to the AGM.
There have been so many other activities too. Many thanks to Ernie Addy who organised two away match trips with our own coach and, importantly, seats which we could use and watch the game without the hordes of standing supporters in front! KCOM have been brilliant and our thanks to Rob Wilson who has steered that excellent partnership for us. For every home fixture, KCOM provided a number of free tickets which have been spread around the members, on Boxing Day they went further and offered us the full use of their Hospitality Box, the match, a brilliant luncheon and a very happy group of members. KCOM also invited us to a Coffee Morning event at the stadium and the opportunity for them to share with us the changes afoot.
So, a fantastic year. I am so thrilled to be a part of the Senior Tigers, members, as I usually say, “of a certain age”! The new season is about to break open and we are all looking forward to it. At Senior Tigers we will have new speakers to look forward to, visits to many more exciting places and the joy of watching our beloved Tigers. We are also trialing a mini-bus service for those members who were otherwise struggling to make it to our monthly meetings. Many thanks to Ernie who has set this up. One big event that is gently taking formation will be the 2nd fantastic Memorabilia Day in June 2024. The event will help mark the 120th Anniversary of The Tigers. KCOM has stepped forward with sponsorship for the day and the Tigers Trust will be alongside us too. Just one highlight among a season of them
Enjoy the new season!
Allen Bagshawe (Chair)
